Hawker centre

A hawker centre in Lavender, Singapore

A hawker stall selling glutinous rice

A hawker centre or cooked food centre (Chinese: 小贩中心; pinyin: xiǎofàn zhōngxīn or Chinese: 熟食中心; pinyin: shúshí zhōngxīn) is an open-air complex in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and the Riau Islands housing many stalls that sell a variety of inexpensive food. They are typically found in city centres, near public housing estates or transport hubs (such as bus interchanges or train stations).

Hawker centres were set up as a more sanitary option to street-side outdoor alfresco hawker dining places. Instead of mobile food hawker carts, permanent stalls in open air buildings are provided for the hawkers. Either common shared or stall dedicated tables and chairs are provided for customers. This concept has totally eliminated street hawkers in Singapore and reduced the numbers of street hawkers in major cities in South East Asia. This phenomenon is also helped by hawker licensing laws. However, it hinders new entrepreneurs with low capital from starting business, resulting in higher prices for established hawker centre stalls. However, hawker centres can provide a one-stop destination with a good variety of high quality, sanitary food at down-to-earth prices for everyone.

In Singapore

A hawker centre in Chinatown, Singapore. The upper floor is for food stalls and the lower is for stalls selling goods

Hawker centres sprang up in urban areas following the rapid urbanisation in the 1950s and 1960s. In many cases, they were built partly to address the problem of unhygienic food preparation by unlicensed street hawkers. More recently, they have become less ubiquitous due to growing affluence in the urban populations of Malaysia and Singapore. Particularly in Singapore, they are increasingly being replaced by food courts, which are indoor, air conditioned versions of hawker centres located in shopping malls and other commercial venues.

In the 1950s and 1960s, hawker centres were considered to be a venue for the less affluent. They had a reputation for unhygienic food, partly due to the frequent appearance of stray domestic pets and pests. Many hawker centres were poorly managed by their operators, often lacking running water and proper facilities for cleaning. More recently, hygiene standards have improved, with pressure from the local authorities. This includes the implementation of licensing requirements, where a sufficient standard of hygiene is required for the stall to operate, and rewarding exceptionally good hygiene. Upgrading or reconstruction of hawker centres was initiated in the late 1990s in Singapore.

The hawker centres in Singapore are owned by three government bodies, namely the National Environment Agency (NEA) under the parent Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR), Housing and Development Board (HDB) and JTC Corporation. All the centres owned by HDB and NEA, in turn, are regulated by NEA with the individual Town Councils managing the HDB owned centres. JTC owned centres are self-managed. On 5 March 2010, NEA launched www.myhawkers.sg, which is an interactive web portal that is supposed to offer useful information on hawker centres and food stalls. The portal is supposed to allow registered users to review or recommend hawker stalls or hawker centres and to provide feedback to NEA on hygiene matters in hawker centres.

As of 2016, two Singaporean food stands, both located in hawker centers, became the first street food vendors to be awarded a Michelin Star for excellence in eating. The two stalls are Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodle and Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle.

In Hong Kong

Bowrington Food Centre, a famous hawker centre in Hong Kong's Wan Chai district

In Hong Kong, most cooked food centres (熟食中心; or cooked food markets, 熟食市場) are either located in market complexes of residential districts, or as a standalone structure (this being the case in most industrial areas), with only a few exceptions (e.g. Mong Kok Cooked Food Market is located in the lower levels of Langham Place Hotel). Cooked food centres are managed by Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.

Most of the stalls from hawker centres are converted from former dai pai dong by strict regulations and management; the Hong Kong Government regards the provision of cooked food centres as a way to eliminate traditional dai pai dongs from local streets in the 1970s. During the industrial boom in the 1960s and 1970s, the government also built cooked food markets in industrial areas in order to serve the catering needs of the working class in major industrial centres such as Kwun Tong, Tsuen Wan and Fo Tan.

Stalls in cooked food centres usually provide local cuisine, with those selling exotic delicacies a minority.

Notable hawker centres

The following lists some notable hawker centres:

Singapore

• ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre
• Adam Road Food Centre
• Alexandra Road Hawker Centre
• Amoy Street Food Centre
• Ang Mo Kio Market and Food Centre
• Bedok Central
• Boon Lay Place Food Village
• Bukit Timah Market and Food Centre
• Changi Village Food Centre
• Chinatown Complex
• Chomp Chomp Food Centre
• Circuit Road Food Centre
• Clementi Market and Food Centre
• East Coast Park Lagoon Food Village
• Eunos Crescent Market and Food Centre
• Fengshan Market and Food Centre
• Geylang Serai Market and Food Centre
• Ghim Moh Market and Food Centre
• Glutton's Bay
• Golden Mile Food Centre
• Golden Shoe Hawker Centre
• Hong Lim Complex
• Kovan Hougang Market Food Centre
• Lau Pa Sat
• Lavender Food Square
• Maxwell Food Centre
• Marine Parade Food Centre
• Mei Ling Market and Food Centre
• Newton Food Centre
• Old Airport Cooked Food Centre
• Queenstown Food Centre
• Redhill Food Centre
• People's Park Food Centre
• Serangoon Garden Market and Food Centre
• Seah Im Food Centre
• Sembawang Hill Food Centre
• Shunfu Mart
• Tampines Round Market
• Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre
• Teban Gardens Market and Food Centre
• Tekka Centre
• Tiong Bahru Market and Food Centre
• West Coast Market and Food Centre
• Whampoa Food Centre

Malaysia

• Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Taiping, Perak, Malaysia

Australia

• Sussex Centre, Sydney, Australia
• Market City, Sydney, Australia
• Dixon House, Sydney, Australia
• Eating World, Sydney, Australia
• Hunter Connection, Sydney, Australia
• Twighlight Hawkers Market, Forrest Place, Perth, Western Australia

Hong Kong

• Bowrington Road Market
• Chai Wan Kok Cooked Food Market
• Cheung Chau Cooked Food Market
• Cheung Sha Wan Cooked Food Market
• Cheung Tat Road Cooked Food Market
• Fo Tan Cooked Food Market (EAST)
• Fo Tan Cooked Food Market (WEST)
• Hung Cheung Cooked Food Market
• Ka Ting Cooked Food Market
• Kik Yeung Road Cooked Food Market
• Kin Wing Cooked Food Market
• Kin Yip Street Cooked Food Market
• Kut Shing Street Cooked Food Market
• Kwai San Street Cooked Food Market
• Kwun Tong Ferry Concourse Cooked Food Market
• Lockhart Road Market
• Mong Kok Cooked Food Market
• Mui Woo Cooked Food Market
• Nam Long Shan Road Cooked Food Market
• Queen Street Cooked Food Market
• Sze Shan Street Cooked Food Market
• Tai Tong Road Cooked Food Market
• Tai Yuen Street Cooked Food Market
• Tsing Yeung Cooked Food Market
• Tsun Yip Cooked Food Market
• Tung Yuen Street Cooked Food Market
• Wo Yi Hop Road Cooked Food Market

See also

• Cha chaan teng Hong Kong diner
• Dhaba Indian roadside diner
• Hawker (trade)
• Kopi tiam, Malayan coffee shop
• Pasar malam, Malayan night market
• Food court western style
• Greasy spoon in Britain
• Mamak stall Malayan road stall
• Truck stop in North America

External links

• Where to find the best hawker food in Singapore that are highly regarded by foodies
• Reviews of hawker food in Singapore
• An interactive web portal for hawker centres in Singapore
• Reviews of hawker food in Malaysia
• Looking out for good food at hawker centres in Malaysia
• List of FEHD Public Markets and Cooked Food Markets/Centres in Hong Kong